The present invention relates to power domains, and in particular to clock power domains in memory systems such as dynamic random access memories (DRAMs).
Power consumption is a constraint on computer systems both by virtue of limited power available in portable, battery-operated systems, and also limited heat dissipation for high power devices. As devices are made faster by increasing their clock speed, the power requirements also increase since clock signal lines, receivers, and other clock circuits consume more power and generate more heat as device clock rates increase.
Some memory systems operate asynchronously. Other memory systems, to increase the speed and bandwidth, operate synchronously using a clock signal. For these synchronous systems, clock power becomes an important issue at high frequencies. High power consumption by the clock signal can exceed thermal cooling limits of the package or system or cause excessive battery drain in portable devices.
In a prior Rambus dynamic random access memory (DRAM) system, illustrated in FIG. 1, three clock domains are used to control clock power use. FIG. 1 shows a memory core 11 and a memory interface 13. A first domain consists of the control circuitry 15, and a second domain is the write path 17 into the memory core. A third path is read data path 19. Table 1 indicates which clock domains are on for different power modes. The clock power to all three domains can be turned off in a standby mode. The control domain is turned on to enter an active mode. The write data path 17 is additionally turned on when needed for a write operation, an active write mode. Read data path 19 is turned on for a read operation, an active read mode. In a read operation, the control domain is turned on first, to allow the control signals for the read to be provided to the memory core. Since there will be some delay before the data is available, the output data path for the data to be read need not have its clock turned on until some period of time later. Thus, there is a latency between when the control logic is turned on and provided the clock signal to when the read data output path is turned on.
TABLE 1Clock Domainspower modesrclksclktclkstandbyoffoffoffactiveonoffoffactive readonoffonactive writeononoff
In a prior Rambus system, the read data path is turned on automatically by the control logic when the control logic is activated for a read. Thus, a separate control signal does not need to be sent over the interface to turn on the read data path. A register will store a count corresponding to the latency from a RAS control signal to when read data will be available from the memory core, and this register value is used to control the latency of the clock turn-on for the read data path.
One disadvantage of the prior Rambus system is the additional latency required for turning on the control logic to exit the standby power mode. Since the interface control logic and datapath must be on before an incoming command can be processed and a memory operation started, the turn-on latency of the control logic and datapath directly adds to the memory access latency. This provides a power versus latency trade off.
Another method of limiting clock power consumption is to use a slower clock signal. This is done in microprocessors which have a low power or sleep mode. Typically, these are used in laptop computers in which the user can select a lower power mode, or the laptop will automatically enter the lower power or sleep mode in the absence of any user input within a predefined period of time.